Rocket Internet can fairly be described as the European tech scene’s pantomime villain. The Samwer Brothers’ incubator-slash-accelerator has a wide variety of companies in its stable, and few are what you might call “original”.

In an entertaining rant earlier this month, Jason Calacanis derided the Samwers as “copycat thieves” (one of the milder phrases he used).

Note the enthusiasm in that video of the crowd applauding Calacanis – those are some of the Berlin startups who aren’t Rocket companies. They don’t like Rocket. Is it indignation or jealousy? Perhaps a smattering of both.

That’s because Rocket Internet’s business model often works extremely well.